Module b. The english national character

Task 1. Practice to pronounce the words given below.

character [ˈkærɪktə]	ounce [aʊns]
inhabitant [ɪnˈhæbɪtənt]	orderliness [ˈɔːdəlɪnɪs]
insularity [ɪnsjʊˈlærɪtɪ]	queue [kjuː]
particularism [pəˈtɪkjʊlərɪz(ə)m]	companionable [kəmˈpænjənəbl]
stability [stəˈbɪlɪtɪ]	comparatively [kəmˈpærətɪvlɪ]
conservatism [kənˈsɜːvətɪzm]	casually [ˈkæʒʊəlɪ
individualism [ɪndɪˈvɪʤʊəlɪzəm]	knowledge [ˈnɔlɪʤ]
measurement [ˈmeʒəmənt]	multicultural [mʌltɪˈkʌlʧərəl]
affection [əˈfekʃn]	convention [kənˈvenʃn]
croquet [krəʊkeɪ]	cricket [ˈkrɪkɪt]

Task 2. Read the following text and pay attention to the highlighted words. Check their meaning with glossary. Be ready to describe the English national character.

THE ENGLISH NATIONAL CHARACTER

The national character of the English has been described in different ways, but most commentators agree over one quality, which they describe as a sense of superiority or “insular pride”. Great Britain is an island on the outer edge of the European continent, and its geographical situation has produced a certain insular spirit among its inhabitants, who tend, a little more perhaps than other people, to regard their own community as the centre of the world. The insularity produces a certain particularism, so the British look on foreigners in general with contempt and think that nothing is as well done elsewhere as in their own country.

T he English are said to be conservative. They have few living traditions and are too individualistic to have the same everyday habits as each other. They are proud of being different. That’s why they don’t like to change. They may not behave in traditional ways, but they like symbols of tradition and stability. Their conservatism combines with their individualism. They are concerned not being like everyone else. For them it is a good reason not to change. Their driving on the left-hand side of the road is a good example to this. Systems of measurement are another example. The British government has been trying for many years to get British people to use the same scales that are used nearly everywhere else in the world. But everybody in Britain still shops in pounds and ounces.

Britain is supposed to be the land of law and order. The part of the British sense for law and orderliness is a love of precedent. For an Englishman, the best of all reasons for doing something in a certain way is that it has always been done in that way.

The English are a well-disciplined people and it is probably no exaggeration to say that they have the best manners in the world. They are all polite; they all know how to hold their knife and fork and how to behave in society, besides they are never rude. You may be struck by the fact that life in Britain is less noisy. There is little noisy behaviour, and practically no loud disputing in the street. People do not rush excitedly for seats in buses or trains, but take their seats in queues at bus stop in a quiet and orderly manner.

They also have a strong sense for public order. English people don't like displaying their emotions even in dangerous and tragic situations, and ordinary people seem to remain good-tempered and cheerful under difficulties. The foreigners have almost universally noted the apparent coldness of Englishmen. But they also confess that once one gets to know an Englishman better, he turns out to be a very companionable fellow.

T he English have a reputation of being cold, people bottling their feelings up and just getting on with life and being very emotional on the outside. It is true that the British, especially the English, are more reserved than the people of many other countries. They find it comparatively difficult to indicate friendship by open displays of affection. For example, it is not the convention to kiss when meeting a friend. Instead, friendship is symbolised by behaving as casually as possible. But, at the same time they display a surprising unity in a crisis.

The English sense and feeling for privacy is notorious. England is the land of brick fences and stone walls, of thick draperies at all the windows. English people rarely shake hands except when being introduced to someone for the first time. They hardly ever shake hands with their friends except seeing them after a long interval or saying good-bye before a long journey.

Snobbery is not as common in England today as it was at the beginning of the 19th century. It still exists, and the advertisers are very clever in their use of snobbery. Motorcar manufactures, for example, advertise the colour of their cars as "Embassy Black". Embassy black is plain, ordinary black, but the name suggests diplomats and all the social importance that surrounds them, and this is what the snobs need.

The Englishman does not like any boasting or showing off in manners, dress or speech. Sometimes he conceals his knowledge: a linguist, for example, may not mention his understanding of a foreigner's language. The British are comparatively uninterested in clothes. They spend a lower proportion of their income on clothing than people in most European countries do. Many people buy second-hand clothes and are not at all embarrassed to admit this. Of course, when people are “on duty”, they have to obey some quite rigid rules. A male bank employee, for example, is expected to wear a suit with a tie at work. But on Sundays the British like to “dress down”. They can’t wait to take off their respectable working clothes and slip into something really scruffy. In fact, the British are probably more tolerant of strangers’ clothing than people in most other countries.

The British are always talking about the weather because it changes so often and it is a very convenient topic with which to “fill the gap” at chance meeting.

The typical feature of the English is their love of games. They love playing all of them. But they choose sports according to their position in society. Upper classes choose sports like polo and croquet, middle class - golf, working class turned football into religion. There are some games they do not play because of their distrust of foreigners and sense of separateness. One such is “boules”, which is an ideal sport to play in any weather, anywhere. But they take cricket as a national sport. Being very complicated cricket is shunned by almost the entire world. The British like it because it makes them feel separate and different.

The English are great lovers of nature and animals. Gardening is the most popular hobby in the country and half of the households keep at least one domestic animal. And the status of pets is taken seriously.

Perhaps love of nature and animals predetermined love of the countryside. To the English countryside represents stability and doesn’t have any negative associations which it has in some countries such as poor facilities, lack of educational opportunities, unemployment. To them countryside means prestige, peace, quiet, health and no crime.

English cities are becoming more and more multicultural: a lot of immigrants with their own strong identities and cultures arrive each year. It creates problems and raises questions about future of English identity. People of England are also concerned about the constantly increasing threat from American culture and language.

At the moment there is a kind of identity crisis for the English as opposed to the British. All the features named previously mean for the English being British. The Scots, the Welsh, the Irish, being dominated by the English, always have their national identities, costumes, songs and all the rest of it. And the English gets stuck in the middle. What does it mean to be English as opposed to the Scots, the Irish? The people of England are trying to find it out right now.